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The convicted drug trafficker John Gilligan has been arrested in Spain after the seizure of drugs, weapons, mobile phones and documents in a joint operation in which the gardaí, a Spanish and British police operation, participated.
The 68-year-old man is one of six people arrested after a series of raids in Alicante that, according to Spanish authorities, are part of an investigation into an Irish-led criminal gang involved in arms and drugs trafficking to the United Kingdom. and Ireland.
Garda headquarters confirmed that they are working closely with the Spanish authorities.
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This is the moment when armed Spanish police raided the house in Alicante in Spain where one of Ireland’s most notorious criminals has been living.
They say that Gilligan is the head of a violent drug and firearms trafficking ring that specializes in smuggling from Spain to the UK and Ireland.
The house was one of four registered.
Investigators found 4 kilograms of marijuana and 11,000 pills, bringing the total seizure to 8 kg and 26,000 pills seized in the operation.
The raids are the culmination of a joint investigation that began last year into Gilligan’s gang.
Spanish police said the gang trafficked drugs through the postal system, hiding them inside packages that were later sent to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Four shipments were intercepted; Two cars, ten mobile phones and documentation were also seized, as well as four pistols, including a Colt Python revolver found buried in a garden.
Spanish police say it is the same make and model as the weapon used to kill Veronica Guerin, the journalist who was shot and killed on Naas Road in 1996 after she wrote newspaper articles about Gilligan’s drug empire.
He was acquitted of the murder, but the judge said he had serious suspicions that he was involved and sentenced him to 28 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Gilligan moved to Spain after surviving an attempt on her life, criminal property charges against her in Belfast last year were dropped and the Office of Criminal Assets seized Jessbrook, her home in Co Kildare.
Spanish police said in a statement that they are in contact with Gardaí to determine whether the weapon discovered in Alicante is the same one used in Guerin’s murder.
Gardaí has said it will not comment on an investigation being carried out by another law enforcement agency, but has confirmed that they are working closely with Spanish authorities on this case.
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